Blyde Ecosystem Restoration & NRMP

AWARD’s Jan Graf (in orange) with the High Altitude Teams at their camp on Hebron Mountain during a three-week invasive plant control operation. The teams were flown in by helicopter under the Inaccessible Areas Clearing Plan.

Restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems

The Blyde area is renowned for its biodiversity and has been the focus of numerous initiatives and considerable investment to clear alien vegetation and improve water flows. It is, however, still threatened by invasive alien plant species (IAP) and soil erosion, particularly associated with timber plantations.

The objective of the Blyde Restoration project, run in collaboration with Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region NPC (K2C), is to support the restoration of degraded ecosystems, and the maintenance of these and adjoining healthy ecosystems in the upper Blyde and adjacent upper Klaserie catchments, by key roleplayers, in order to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services in this high priority area in the long term. We aim to support the development of coordinated and integrated restoration and IAP control efforts both in the short and long term by natural resource and biodiversity management agencies working in the upper Blyde and upper Klaserie Catchments.